The present invention relates to an improvement on the system and method described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,524,242 to Stukenholtz, which is incorporated herein by this reference. Agricultural combines are capable of both harvesting and threshing agricultural material in a single vehicle. Different front ends, or headers, may be attached to the combine to harvest and thresh various types of agricultural material, such as corn, wheat, soybeans, chaff, stover, switch grass, grass, wildflowers, flowers, as well as other types of grain, seeds and organic matter. One known type of header is a corn header which, when attached to a combine, collects ears of corn from an agricultural field. Corn kernels are provided on the ear, which is, in turn, secured to the corn stalk. Combines fitted with corn headers grab the ears of corn from the stalk. While it is often desirable to separate the ear from the stalk and leave the stalk secured to the agricultural field, depending upon the type of header used, the settings of the header, and the strength with which the ears are secured to the stalks, the combine may uproot and process some or all of the stalk.
Prior art combines are designed to separate ears of corn from stover, including the stalks, husks and remaining chaff. Once the ears have been separated, the combine processes each ear of corn through a thresher to separate the kernels of corn from the cobs. Typically the stover, now including the shelled cobs along with the other chaff, are ejected back into the agricultural field. The corn kernels are separated from the stover and moved to a storage container, either on the combine or in another vehicle. While the prior art has taught methods for retaining grain and discarding stover, with the advent of corncobs being used for fuel, it has become desirable to collect the corn cobs as well. It is possible to go back through the field after a combine has extracted the grain and collect the cobs lying on the agricultural field, but the cobs are difficult to pick up off the ground and will become contaminated with dirt or other material.
It is possible to modify a combine to direct the stover from the combine directly into another vehicle, but most types of stover do not justify the collection thereof. While almost all types of stover may be converted into some type of energy, most of the stover is “too fluffy” to justify its collection for subsequent use. The problem with much of the stover is that its density is too light in comparison to its energy content to justify its collection. When added back to the agricultural field, this light stover is easily biodegradable, adds nutrients back to the field and prevents erosion. Conversely, stover such as corncobs, biodegrades more slowly, has a high density and has high energy content. It is therefore advantageous to return light stover to the field and collect corn cobs for subsequent energy generation. It would be desirable to provide a system and method for adapting existing combines to collect both the corn kernels and high-density cobs. U.S. Pat. No. 7,524,242 describes a method for harvesting, cleaning and storing both corn kernels and whole cobs on a combine. This system and method has proven advantages. It would be desirable, however, to provide an alternative system and method for collecting both corn kernels and whole cobs using a single combine. The difficulties encountered in the prior art discussed hereinabove are substantially eliminated by the present invention.